Time for Colonial teams to move on
Northwestern boys outlast Southern Lehigh in OT; Tigers girls rout Salisbury
Northwestern Lehigh coach Jerry Lloyd knows a thing or two about 3-point shots winning postseason boys basketball games.
It was in 1997 when Lloyd, then a junior playing for Whitehall, hit one of the most famous shots in District 11 championship game history when his 3-pointer beat Parkland and ended a five-overtime classic at Lafayette.
On Tuesday night, Lloyd helped diagram a game-winning 3-pointer for junior Dylan Witkowski. Witkowski, coming off a Justin Holmes screen and receiving a pass from Nick Henry, didn’t hesitate in launching a 3-pointer that broke a 49-49 tie with four seconds left in overtime.
Southern Lehigh’s Max Pristas just missed a long 3-point attempt at the other end and Northwestern held on for a 52-49 quarterfinal round victory in New Tripoli.
Witkowski’s trey capped a great night for the Tigers as the girls rolled past Salisbury 52-24 in their quarterfinal-round game.
Both teams have little time to savor their wins since they were back in action Wednesday, with Bangor the opponent in both brackets. The lady Tigers hosted the Slaters at 5 p.m. while the Northwestern boys traveled to Bangor for a 7 p.m. game.
Witkowski’s winner: “Holmes set a fantastic screen and Dylan stepped up,” Lloyd said. “He scored all of his points in the second half and showed patience tonight because he scored 28 points the first time we played them and we knew they would be keying on him.”
Witkowski, a junior who transferred from Emmaus, scored 17 points after intermission and all eight of the Tigers points in the overtime. His game-winner was his second in OT and third of the second half.
It was his 3-pointer that tied it at 49 with 1:25 left after Pristas hit a trey to give Southern Lehigh the lead. Witkowski said there were multiple options on the game-winner, but he was clearly the best one.
“We saw their defender [Dom Lisicky] was overplaying that play the whole game, so I decided to come off the screen a different way and Holmes set a good screen,” Witkowski said. “This was huge for us. Last time we played Southern Lehigh things didn’t turn out well in overtime and we let [Daryl] Coleman get the best of us. But this time we handled the pressure.”
For most of the night, this one was just as tight as Solehi’s 58-55 win in OT on the same floor on Jan. 18.
It was tied at 20 at halftime, but the Tigers (13-4) roared out of the locker room for the start of the third quarter and scored the first 11 points.
“They’re a fantastic team and when we were up 11, we knew they were going to make a run,” Lloyd said. “Our guys hung in there. We’ve got to get better at putting these games away and not allowing these games to get into overtime. But our guys are comfortable in tight games. We’ve played a lot of them all year long. We’re used to it.”
Southern Lehigh (7-5) nearly won it at the end of regulation but Lisicky’s 3-point shot rimmed out.
“He had a good look at it and when he let it go, it looked like it was going in from our bench,” Lloyd said. “But fortunately, it rimmed out and we got another chance.”
Southern Lehigh lost its chance for a three-peat as Colonial League champs, but can still defend its District 11 5A crown. The Spartans are expected to play at Blue Mountain in its first district game on March 3.
“We always talk about the start of halves and Northwestern dominated the start of the second half and put us in a hole,” Southern Lehigh coach Ben Tannous said. “I was worried with their [slower] style of game that we weren’t going to be able to get back in it, but credit to our guys for digging in. We picked up the tempo a little bit and that got us back. I thought we had control in overtime, but we had too many turnovers and gave them extra possessions.”
Lady Tigers looked like a No. 1: While it’s nice to be No. 1 in anything, especially the No. 1 seed in a postseason basketball tournament, Northwestern Lehigh girls coach Chris Deutsch was taking nothing for granted Tuesday when his top-seeded Tigers took on No. 8 Salisbury in the Colonial League quarterfinals.
He said that while Northwestern defeated Salisbury 43-35 on Jan. 21, it was anything but easy.
Deutsch made sure the rematch was a bit more comfortable as the Tigers dominated from start to finish in a 52-24 victory to earn a berth in Wednesday’s semifinals back inside their home gym in New Tripoli.
Northwestern will play Bangor, a No. 5 seed, at 5 p.m. The Slaters were 48-42 quarterfinal-round winners over Wilson on Tuesday night.
Senior Ali Lister scored 14 points and sophomore Paige Sevrain added 13 as Northwestern (14-1, 9-1 in the Colonial regular season) played quality defense and spread the ball around on offense.
Salisbury (6-9, 5-5) was held to just two points in the fourth quarter.
“We knew we had to come out ready to play,” said Deutsch after he earned his 298th career victory. “They played some kind of junk defense the first time we played them and it was a one-point game with four minutes left. We made some adjustments and I thought our girls played very well. We got even some contributions from our bench.”
Deutsch noted that Kate Betz was 6-for-6 at the foul line in the second quarter to help the Lady Tigers gain separation.
He said that while it’s difficult to play on back-to-back nights, he’s glad his team doesn’t have to travel.
“It’s a big advantage for us because we play well at home,” Deutsch said. “It’s what you work for. We knew this year that the No. 1 seed was going to get to play on its home floor until the finals and that became one of our goals.”Lister, one of six seniors who would love to go out as champions, said the team welcomes the chance to play with the big Tiger logo on the floor.
“We’re excited,” the Adelphi-bound Lister said. “We have awesome support in our community and even without the fans. It’s a great environment.”
Most of all, she’s thankful for the opportunity.